DAY 2

DAY 2

We start our day at the Bissell University Library. Liza, Evi's secretary (coordinator of the school libraries) is waiting for us there.

Liza explains that the acronym ACT stands for: American College of Tessaloniki.

There they do university degrees, masters, specialization; psychology, computer science, engineering, political studies/ protocol.

We go to the building Stavros Constantindis Hall, where he explains that it has this name because an ex-student of the university donated money and they gave him this name in honor of him. At the entrance there is a picture of him.

Here they do chemistry and biology, she shows us the building and the facilities; the biology laboratory, the classrooms, the offices, etc.

She explains that many Americans come to this university for a semester to do Erasmus.

In the cafeteria she explains that they also celebrate Christmas and Halloween parties, etc.

They post the grades outside so that everyone can see them and consult them.

They have game rooms and students can play in their free time.

It is a university campus.

Students can go to enrol in different courses at the offices.

The students travel around the country, to learn about culture. 

Then it takes us to another very new building, that they have just built, this one did not exist before as a center, it was a private house that now has been refurbished and they have built other classrooms. In this one they are required to have a doctor; he comes 3 days a week, it is included in the fee they pay.

The library is open to the public.

Students pay a fee and have access to the library for life. 20eu per year and have access to the digital library.

AMICAL American International Consorcius⇒ is a consortium of academic libraries.

They organize a macro event; presentation of books, exhibition of painters, teachers come, get inspired, reflect on painting... They also do it with photography.

Then we present our schools; both from La Farga and Mas i Parera (where Tània, our Erasmus companion, comes from). Helena begins with the presentation of our school, explaining a presentation that we had prepared at our school. What a great feeling to see us in another country, Greece, explaining things about our homeland, our culture, our school and what we do there... Very exciting. At the end of it Evi and Liza ask us some questions, Evi makes a final reflection on our school, contributing that with the facilities we have and all that we do, she is impressed. Then Tània shows a video where she presents her presentation, very nice too.

Then Rusel takes us to his office and explains briefly the collections they have. They have science and biology/psychology books.

Then we go to Evi's office where she provides more information about the library.

She explains that the exhibition they will be doing will be about the elderly, that they give importance to the presence of the elderly. She also explains that they look for good publications.

When they buy the books they are placed in categories; romantic, historical, comics, etc.

They also work a lot on the subject of reading and reading agility at home, they recommend reading with their families every night before going to sleep, this is another aspect that is also very far from our reality.

There is a day when they sleep at school and have a book party, in the dark, with lots of books. It is a magnificent moment.